THE WOODCOCK. 143 



Description. 



CHAP. VI. 



-The gun 



Glanc'd just and sudden, from the fowler's eye, 

 O'ertakes their sounding pinions ; and again 

 Immediate, brings them from the tow'ring wing, 

 Dead to the ground ; or drives them wide dispers'd, 

 Wounded, and wheeling various, down the wind," 



THOMSON. 



THE WOODCOCK. 



, commonly termed the snipe genus, is 

 reckoned to include thirty species, of which the 

 woodcock is considered the head. It is not 

 quite so large as the partridge, being from the 

 point of each wing, when extended, about two 

 feet, and weighs about eleven, but sometimes 

 twelve ounces ; the bill is straight, and about three 

 inches long, the upper part falling a little over the 

 under at the tip end ; the back, and all the under 

 parts of the body partake of a great variety of 

 colours ; the back part of the head inclining to 

 black, with little cross bars that appear like a sort 

 of shell work ; and between the eye and the bill, 



